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How big is your HR team?

Christopher

Hiya,

I've just been having a chat with our MD who has said he thinks our HR team is "chronically under-resourced" in relation to the amount of activity we undertake.

We're a GP provider and work across 7 sites with about 250 employees (both clinical and non-clinical) 

Our HR team is made up of:

1x HR Director (at around 0.5 FTE across 2.5 days, but works out at about 1.5 days with one day taken up with meetings each week)

1x generalist HR Advisor (me - 1 FTE across 4 days)

1x Apprentice HR Admin (0.8 FTE across 5 days)

Our payroll is internal and separate to HR although we obviously have a close relationship. It's NHS so we have a pretty large and continuous (!) recruitment requirement. From my perspective it does feel like we're doing a lot of firefighting and never getting much opportunity to pursue things to make the organisation better. 

I appreciate that all organisations are different (and I have my own thoughts on how our team should look and what improvements/efficiencies could be made technology-wise), but I just wanted to get a bit of an idea of how other teams look.

  • in reply to Belle
    5 people - it gets really frustrating, because we are not agile enough now in the way we recruit and lose applicants before we can see them. The Managers can't see this is an issue, but I can. Thinking I can get candidates out of thin air - well all my miracles have been used up recently, so I can' help. Have to keep a sense of humour!
  • in reply to Jules
    Sorry, I meant what is total employee headcount.
    Recruitment is a major issue for everyone, there is just simply not enough candidates and we are so slow at reacting when there is one! Definitely a sense of humour helps... along with wine! ;)
  • in reply to Belle
    Apologies - I misunderstood, were around 150 employees, but are currently running about 20 employees short (roles requiring to be filled) . Exactly, not enough candidates, but Managers are not looking maybe transferable skills and training up people. Also we can't just throw money at roles either. I wish them good luck once i've moved on.
  • in reply to Jules
    Exactly! I wholeheartedly agree! Your HR ratio is better than average but I understand the frustrations. Good luck in your new role!
  • "Chronically under-resourced" would be an exaggeration, in my opinion, in this case. A good rule of thumb is 1.0 FTE for every 100 employees and you've for 2.3 for 250, so "under-resourced" is fair, but "chronically"?

    Of course, it's only a rule of thumb and different sectors and industries will have different HR needs. But having worked in and around the NHS, I would say your team was about the right size, but with the HRD operating at 0.5, an additional HR Advisor would probably be a good investment.

    My current organization is ~2500 with about 25.0 FTE (whether the people who operate the HRIS platform count as HR staff is arguable).

    A previous employer had 75-100 staff and we had 1.8 FTE which was arguably overstaffed, but we also handled payroll and had a large field team and high turnover of technical staff, which accounted for the additional requirement.
  • in reply to Steve Bridger
    Pleased to see this thread still 'giving'. Keep it coming.
  • I'm a standalone for a headcount of 85 but we have a really efficient HR system so I get to bounce around lots of project work which keeps me happy. I definitely do not need anyone else. I was working somewhere with 2 of us for a headcount of 115 and it was a struggle because there simply wasn't enough work for us both.
  • in reply to Robey
    Hi Robey, that's really helpful - thank you. I agree that "chronically under-resourced" feels like a bit of an overstatement but it's nice to have the MD on side and advocating for us.

    What I'd had in mind already (and spoken about with HRD and MD) is that if we had additional resource of c. 0.5 FTE at my level or the HRD level then that would set us about right, and indeed the responses on here are suggesting that more and more. Our administrator is still an apprentice so still on a learning journey - once she's more up to speed (which feels a bit chicken and egg, because if I had more time available I could show her how to do more and build her confidence!) then I think it would feel a bit better.
  • Hi Christopher,

    We have ~350 staff and our HR department is made up of 2 FT Advisors (of which I am one) and a PT Head of HR.

    My days are bonkers busy but that's how I like it.